Post navigation

Unreal Brand Candies – A Better Choice?

Unreal is a relatively new brand of candy and chocolates with an interesting story. The founder of the company is a teenager, Nicky Bonner, whose parents limited his candy intake because of all the bad ingredients in them. He decided to create candies his parents would actually allow him to eat. It also helps that his partner in the business is his dad, a former advertising executive and well connected multi-millionaire who founded and sold the Digitas advertising agency to Publicis.

So how do these candies differ from traditional fare such as M&Ms, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and other mainstays of American candy culture? According to the company, it does not use artificial colors, partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and GMOs.

The bar is 170 calories, has 5 tsp of sugar, and 4 grams of saturated fat (20% of the daily max). Similar nutrition to other bars. Not even close to the nutrition value one can get from truly healthy snacks, like fruit. You may ask, why is Fooducate mentioning fruits in a post about chocolate snacks? Well, Unreal’s website actually makes such a comparison, in a very lame way. That’s not a smart move.

But other than that, Unreal is very interesting. The fact that many of the bad ingredients traditionally found in candies are not here, is very encouraging. For parents debating which of two candies to buy – Unreal is the better choice. However, the products sold are still candy. So don’t eat up on these as if they are health foods. If Unreal starts to pick up steam, expect the Hershey and Mars to introduce similar “healthy” lines of products, or to bid to buy Unreal.

A rational person would know that candy is still candy no matter who makes it. But the fact that its processed with a more ideal selection of ingredients is still better than choosing a bad product like Snickers or Reeses. I kinda think of unreal as a generic Candy but with better ingredients, less grams of fat, less sugar, and less calories. Eat up! Sparingly!

Candy should not be consumed too often, no matter what kinds. Is eating only one bar of Snickers a week really that bad?

Catherine

My kids just shouted hallelujah! Not that they even look to eat much candy but on occasions when they are being handed around at school it is nice to be able to give them something that looks like what the other kids are eating. They also feel better knowing they aren’t the only ones subjected to having limits put on what they can eat so yay for this kid!

What a crock! Candies based on irrational superstitions?
No HFCS?
No GMOs?
No “MSG-like” ingredients (whatever that may mean)
Is voodoo next?

Tara

One day you will understand James Cooper. I am sorry at this point you do not. Perhaps it is your children that are wreaking havoc on the education system, all hopped up on nasties.

Melissa @ My Whole Food Life

I think it is great that candy makers are starting to think about a better option. However, I do think that this is a food that should be eaten in moderation or as an occasional treat. I do have one question about the ingredients. There is hydrolyzed milk protein. I read that anything hydrolyzed can be a form of msg. Here is the link that I read it on. http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html What do you think?

Momma

I think it’s quite obvious that most of the commenters here have no clue what GMOs are. Unreal is not propagating that you replace your daily meals with their candy…. Just that on the times when you choose to eat candy there’s a better candy option! I love it! (People if you cannot define the negative qualities of GMOs right now, please go read up on them!!)

Ca Lo

Candy is so easy to make at home. I will not buy candy for my kids since I can control the ingredients and serving size. Making fresh keeps the ingredient list sparse too. The chocolate I choose is the only multiple ingredient. Maybe I will make chocolate from scratch and cut the ingredient list down even further. And, they looooooove my candy. Organic and NON-GMO ingredients: Milk or dark chocolate, butter, sugar, raisins, nuts, coconut, spices. It’s a nice once-in-awhile and special occasion treat.

Catherina Lucy

Candies is a beautiful presentation for the home makers.With candies we can prepare different styles.I have tried a lot with candies.Thanks for the share.